As he’s made apparent many times before, Brian Cox isn’t afraid to share his opinion on the work of his fellow thespians.
In a scathing new interview with The Times, published on Friday, Cox tears into former costars and Oscar nominees alike, including Edward Norton, Margot Robbie, and Johnny Depp.
Cox said he turned down the role of the governor in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise because he did not want to work alongside Depp, who he thinks is “so overblown, so overrated.” (The part eventually went to Jonathan Pryce.)
As for his 25th Hour co-star Norton, Cox said he’s “a pain in the arse” while also calling out Ian McKellen‘s acting as “not to my taste.”
He even went so far as to bash a film he’s not yet seen due to the casting: Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights. “‘Keith Cliff! It’s me, Cathy!'” Cox reportedly declaimed “in a cod Australian accent” to represent Robbie, according to The Times. “‘How ya doing, Keith? Awright?’ ‘Yeah, I’m awright!'”
The outlet said Cox laughed before adding, “Margot Robbie is far too beautiful for that role. I mean, I think there should be something more of the Gypsy about her but it’s wrong of me to judge. It may be a brilliant film.”
On his no-holds-barred approach to discussing his craft — and others in the industry — Cox admitted he’s too old to care about what people think of him.
“Well, I don’t know yet if it’s caused me problems,” he said. “I mean, my wife [Nicole Ansari-Cox] keeps saying, ‘Brian, be careful. Brian, be careful.’ I think, ‘F— it, I don’t want to be careful any more! I’ll be 80 this year. F— it! I’m gonna say what I want to say.'”
The Emmy winner also explained that, even though Daniel Day-Lewis asked him to call to discuss his thoughts on method acting (in light of Cox’s 2023 comments about his Succession co-star Jeremy Strong‘s “f—ing annoying” approach), he declined to make contact.
“No, I haven’t reached out because it’s got nothing to do with Dan Day-Lewis,” he said. “Dan Day-Lewis, he’s discreet. He never upsets it [the filming process]. He’s never, sort of… I don’t want to go on about Jeremy, because I’ve got into a lot of problems and he’s begged me to stop talking about him. He’s a good actor, Jeremy. He’s a wonderful actor. It’s just all the bollocks that goes with it. You watch children — they don’t say, ‘What’s my motivation?’ They just do it!”
Jeremy Strong and Brian Cox on ‘Succession’
Credit: Craig Blankenhorn/HBO
Cox aimed his criticisms at those behind the camera as well. He said Michael Caton-Jones is “a complete arsehole,” David Hare is a “see you next Tuesday” and Quentin Tarantino is “meretricious.”
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When discussing his feature directorial debut, Glenrothan, Cox said he’s “more egalitarian than a lot of directors, the kind who call themselves visionaries.”
He added, “I like to honor the actor’s performance. With a Quentin Tarantino film, what you see is all Quentin Tarantino. That’s not me. I don’t want to do that.”
Glenrothan, which stars Cox and fellow Scot Alan Cumming as two brothers who bear the scars of their overbearing father while battling over the family whisky business, is out in the U.K. on April 17.
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